Europeanen die naar een Indonesische man kijken en pijprokende figuren c. 1660

This pen drawing by Wouter Schouten shows Europeans looking at an Indonesian man and other figures smoking pipes. The sketch likely dates to the late 17th century, a period when the Dutch East India Company exerted considerable influence in Indonesia. Schouten himself worked as a surgeon for the Company. We can imagine that the scene documents Schouten’s own experience as a European in Asia. The image creates meaning through the depiction of racial and cultural difference, which was a common trope in European art. The drawing can tell us about the politics of imagery, and about the social conditions that shape artistic production. Historians interested in this topic might research visual representations of race in the early modern period, or the history of the Dutch East India Company. Ultimately, the meaning of art is contingent on its social and institutional context.